Electrical tree growth in EVA-layered silicate nanocomposites

This work deals with the growth of electrical treeing in different EVA-layered silicate nanostructured compounds. The experimental activity evidenced that the intercalated nanocomposites have longer lifetimes than pure EVA under the same constant AC stress conditions. A monitoring of the tree growth morphology allowed to evidence very interesting features of the intercalated nanocompounds showing a barrier effect to the treeing path. A preliminary investigation on the possible arrangement of the filler particles inside the matrix was also carried out.